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CLEAN FREAK: Is green cleaning logical?

Hubbard

This article might make some people mad. Now you just have to read it, don’t you? It’s pretty controversial, but as a cleaning expert I feel it must be told.

There is some fiction out there in the cleaning world, and it needs to be exposed and brought into the light. There are some green cleaning myths that just have to be brought to trial and be shown for what they really are — fairy tales.

There is nothing wrong with caring about the environment and wanting to go “green.” Many cleaning companies have positioned themselves as environmentally friendly, not just because of the trending, but because companies are created by people and caring is a human characteristic.

Of course, we naturally care about the environment because that is where we live and breathe and we cannot separate ourselves from the environment any more than we can separate individual water molecules with our bare hands.

Everyone has a vested interest in where they live, conduct business and enjoy life. “Green” has come to represent responsible protection of the environment, but it also has been used in very misleading ways, especially in the cleaning industry. One of the problems with the Green Revolution is that much of it, contrary to popular opinion, is based on propaganda.

Myth No. 1: Green cleaning products are better for the environment.

Using only “green” cleaning products is not bad, but whether the cleaning product is “green” or not, it is still made of chemicals. You can apply “green” products improperly and be dealing with way more chemicals than you need.

Going “green,” in and of itself, is not a bad thing, except to think that “green” cleaning is superior to any other type of cleaning is incorrect.

Any effective type of cleaning is helpful to the environment. I cannot statistically back this up, but it is my perception that most of the feedback I have received over the years is that clients do not like eco-friendly products because they are not as effective and/or smell funny.

Myth No. 2: Green-cleaning companies are better than companies that are not.

One is not necessarily better than the other, or at least should not be looked upon in a judgmental manner.

One cleaning service can proclaim they only use environmentally safe products and have a green certification, but in all actuality they cannot be judged superior if another cleaning company that uses regular cleaning products is just as effective in cleaning as their certified counterparts.

The environment is made a better place by both companies and by both of their systematic cleaning methods if they are being applied properly and effectively. Which ever company is most efficient at eliminating waste from residences or businesses is the most friendly to the environment, regardless of what type of cleaning products they use.

Myth No. 3: Since the government supports green, it must be the best.

The whole of point of bureaucracy is survival. The more power it has, the less likely it is to be shut down.

I hold no ill will for an entity trying to survive. I am trying to do the same as well, but since the main goal of government agencies is survival, than I am suspicious of government’s intentions to portray themselves as “green.”

As our current government has displayed, they are extremely wasteful, and full of pollution on all physical, psychological and spiritual levels. This does not match the characteristics of an environmentally friendly organization, so a government endorsement of any type of “green” product is suspect, especially since there are no government programs in place to test and certify the cleaning effectiveness of any cleaning products sold on the market.

Our society focuses more on the product than the method itself, which is the problem. Chemicals are in all cleaning products. It’s the method in which they are used that is the important issue.

We, as consumers, tend to focus on the marketing of chemicals as being the important issue, when the method of how cleaning is applied is truly the important focus. It is the system method that makes our lives and the environment a better place with the removal of unwanted matter.

As a cleaning industry expert, in the past, when I have had to clean a men’s dirty restroom out at a warehouse facility where there is residue of blood, feces or urine, I did not reach for the eco-friendly product. I instead doused the place down with bleach and industrial-strength disinfectant and lot’s of it.

In this day of infectious diseases, I’m not going to be politically correct.